Purpose

To consolidate, disseminate, and gather information concerning the 710 expansion into our San Rafael neighborhood and into our surrounding neighborhoods. If you have an item that you would like posted on this blog, please e-mail the item to Peggy Drouet at pdrouet@earthlink.net

By Adrian Glick Kudler, Octboer 24, 2013

Artist’s rendering of a potential high-density, mixed-use
development for the land near the Crenshaw Line's Florence/La Brea
station.

Last year, the Los Angeles Business Council put out a report
written by UCLA Anderson School of Management lecturer/developer Pal
Habibi saying that average working Angelenos can't actually afford to
live anywhere near where they work. Now they've paired up again for a new report
(pdf) that looks at one way to fix that: by building new workforce
housing along transit corridors. The report includes a ranking of
neighborhoods by how primed they are for transit-oriented development
("The Index ranks 104 station areas and is based on six key demographic
and market indicators – population, housing density, income, employment,
transit ridership and land values – to evaluate whether a given market
can support the type of mixed-use, mixed-income and higher-density
development that comprises livable communities." See the gallery for
the rankings.) And luckily enough, the best opportunities are spread
throughout LA County (see the "hot markets" on the map in the gallery).

The report also included case studies of two neighborhoods with
big potential for transit-oriented workforce housing: the area around
the Orange Line's Van Nuys station and the section of Inglewood around the Florence/La Brea station
on the upcoming Crenshaw Line. Metro owns land near the former, which
is also near a bike path and several bus routes; Inglewood owns a nice
piece of developable land near the latter.

Habibi writes that identifying hotspots is just step one, and that
government will need to get involved "to attract investment and make
these new livable communities financially feasible ... Policymakers have
the tools to make these projects attractive to potential investors and
builders, and it's time to use them." (Ideas include reducing parking
requirements near transit and reducing development fees for these kinds
of projects.) And luckily Mayor Garcetti's on board with that, according
to a press release about the report.